A Swingin’ Christmas with the Pete Ellman Big Band
Since the theme of this concert is A Swingin’ Christmas, it should not surprise that this concert has only a brief nod to traditional Christmas music: Just one hymn, and only one song that meets the definition of a carol by virtue of its subject and its rhythm. Most songs here are, instead, American standards, that is, twentieth-century popular songs and songs from stage productions. And most are secular in nature– more about the season than about liturgy. One composer, however, is responsible for three of these numbers: A composer whom George Gershwin called “the greatest songwriter who has ever lived”, and of whom Jerome Kern said “…he is American music”. That would be Irving Berlin: The son of a Jewish cantor– born Israel Beilin in Russia– immigrating with his parents and six siblings in 1893, abandoning school at 13 to be a street musician, and becoming a self-taught pianist, who wrote both lyrics and music for most of his songs. He improvised amazingly well but could not read music, and could not transpose; instead, he used special pianos, which changed keys mechanically. Consider his contributions to this concert:
I Love a Piano (1915)Berlin’s breakthrough number was 1911’s Alexander’s Ragtime Band; in the interim, Berlin was in constant demand, and “Piano” became the theme for a 1915 retrospective show of Berlin’s music.
I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm (1937) From “On the Avenue”, where it was sung by Dick Powell and Alice Faye; curiously, an instrumental version of this song by the Les Brown band, arranged by Skip Martin, was released in 1946 and became a million-seller and Billboard Top 10 recording in 1949.
White Christmas (1942) Written for the film “Holiday Inn”, where it was sung by Bing Crosby, with his co-star Marjorie Reynolds (but her voice was dubbed by Martha Mears!). Crosby’s recording became the best-selling single of all time, with more than 50 million copies sold, and the song has also been a top seller for many covers.
Other numbers on this concert come from various sources across a broad swath of the 20th century:
Let it Snow, Let it Snow (1945) Jule Styne and lyricist Sammy Cahn wrote this song in Hollywood in July, in the middle of a heat wave, both of them hoping for cooler weather. The first recordings were by Vaughn Monroe and Woody Herman, and Monroe’s version reached #1 on the Billboard Magazine chart by January of 1946.
Frosty the Snowman (1950) Written by Walter “Jack” Rollins and Steve Nelson for Gene Autry, who, with the Cass County Boys, had a hit record the previous Christmas with “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, and hoped to duplicate that success. In both cases, the songs begat the books and the movies/TV specials that followed.
No Place Like Home for the Holidays (1954) (Part of Christmas Medley) Music by Robert Allen, lyrics by Al Stillman; recorded in November of that year by Perry Como, and released on both 78 and 45-rpm singles. (Como recorded it a second time in 1959.) The original reached #8 on Billboard’s list.
Most Wonderful Time of the Year (1963) Written by Edward Pola and George Wyle for an ”Andy Williams Christmas” TV special, the second of those annual programs. It was on the Andy Williams Christmas album released in October ’63 (but White Christmas remained the album theme!). It became #5 of Billboard’s Top 10 Holiday Songs in 2009.
Need a Little Christmas (1966) (Part of Christmas Medley) From Jerry Herman’s “Mame”, in which Mame sings it after losing her fortune in the ’29 crash. Herman sensed a dismal mood in 1966 USA, and as Christmas that year approached, he noticed that people were a little more upbeat. And so he added a bouncy Christmas song for Mame’s character.
It’s Christmas All Over the World (1985) (Part of Christmas Medley) Written by John Hubbs and Bill House, and first used as a theme song for the ‘boy band’ New Edition, for its first Christmas album; that band began in 1978 in a Roxbury MA housing project.
Mary Did You Know (1991) although this carol has the cachet of a spiritual; its music is by Georgia harmonica player and gospel composer Buddy Greene, with lyrics by Mark Lowry. It was recorded by Michael English on his debut album; he and Lowry were then members of the Gaither Vocal Band. Lowry recorded it himself with that band in 1998. It has been covered by many others, including Kenny Rogers, Wynonna Judd, Clay Aiken, and Pentatonix.
Which leaves two numbers from much earlier times:
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day (Words: 1863; Music: 1956) The poet H. W. Longfellow wrote this poem after his son, Charles Appleton Longfellow, a lieutenant in the Union Army, was wounded at the Battle of New Hope Church (Virginia) in November of 1863. Longfellow wrote the poem on Christmas Day that year after visiting his severely wounded son in the hospital. This setting utilizes four stanzas—the first, second, sixth, and seventh of Longfellow’s original seven. It was originally set to the martial hymn tune “Waltham”, by the organist John B. Calkin, but the prevailing version today owes its tune to John David Marks, a Jewish WWII veteran who also composed the music for “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “A Holly Jolly Christmas”.
Joy to the World (Words: 1719; Music: 1839?) (Part of Christmas Medley) The only music here suggesting classical roots, this hymn has words by the eighteenth-century hymnodist Isaac Watts, paraphrasing Psalm 98, while the tune, “Antioch”, is generally credited to Handel. But there is no obvious precursor in Handel’s works: Similarities to “Lift Up Your Heads”, from “Messiah”, and also to “Comfort Ye, My People”—the orchestral intro in particular—have been proposed. As far as text goes, only minor changes have been made since 1847.
-J. R. Fancher – 2017